The Winamac Park Board is almost ready to get construction bids for new restrooms in the Town Park, but town officials will have to work around some scheduling constraints. Last year, the park board was awarded a Land and Water Conservation Fund grant to help with the cost, but as of last week, the paperwork still hadn’t been finalized, according to Park Board Secretary Kim Burke.

“The DNR’s pushed us back to July or August,” Burke told board members. “They got backlogged with the government shutdown. But her email says, as of right now, we’d be able to start work July or August.” Work on the restroom project will have to wait even longer, due to the annual Northern Indiana Power from the Past event.

Before the work can begin, though, the
park board has to secure the local funding match from the town
council, but members won’t know how much money to ask for until bids
are received. In order to have time to make the funding arrangements,
board members decided last week to open bids at their May meeting but
require a 90-day hold time.

The park board originally bid out the project last year but ended up rejecting all three bids, after the lowest bidder ended up pulling out. Board member and town manager Brad Zellers noted that there’s been a lot of interest in the project from local construction companies since then.

Plans call for the old brick restrooms
in the front of the park to be demolished and replaced with a new
structure, with more ADA-compliant stalls and more room in general.
The grant will also help pay for a number of smaller items, like new
equipment for the toddler playground, frisbee golf equipment, and new
backboards for some of the park’s basketball hoops.